Investigation on the transplacental transfer of Wuchereria bancrofti microfilariae in newborns of microfilaremic mothers

Abstract

The occurrence of circulating Wuchereria bancrofti microfilariae was investigated in 304 pregnant women from the "Unidade Mista Pof. Barros Lima" and "Hospital das Clinicas/UF-PE". The filtration technique was employed to detect microfilaraemia during pregnancy, and 13 women were found to be positive (4.2%). The investigation of microfilariae in the cord blood of their children was negative (6/13), and also in venous blood samples colected up to 72 hours after birth and with 6 months of life. Milk samples from these mothers also had no microfilariae. The authors suggest that the occurrence of placentary lesions may be a possible factor involved in the transplacental transfer of microfilariae, and that in utero exposure to microfilariae and/or filarial antigens may influence the response to a filarial infection acquired later, thus being important a clinical and laboratorial follow-up of children exposed previously to filarial antigens during early periods of human development.